A natural progression in devices is to build more function or even to combine more functions into one device. In the past ten years, for example, mobile communications, personal data assistants, and portable navigational devices have boomed. Currently, millions use cellular phones on a daily basis. Cellular phones have become so inexpensive that college students can readily afford them. Cellular phones have been given added capability. Some have been provided with paging capability, for example. Recently, cellular phones have been provided with the ability to interface with the internet. Current cell phones also have calendaring capabilities built in and some are now being combined with personal data assistants (“PDAs”).
PDAs are now also exceedingly popular. The first PDA-type devices merely held a listing of contacts and may have had a calendar function. Now PDAs, in addition to holding contact data and a calendar, hold e-mail. PDAs have now been provided with the capability to respond to e-mail and are linked or synchronized with a computer periodically so any e-mail answers can be ported over to a computer for sending. Calendar changes are also synchronized.
Navigational devices represent yet another technology that has boomed as of late and which is now becoming popular and affordable. Previously, navigational devices were expensive and far from portable or hand-held. Most navigational devices could only be found on ships and airplanes. Now, navigational devices are popular options in luxury cars and navigational devices have become popular with outdoorsman of all types. Fisherman have them to mark out there favorite fishing holes, for example. These devices have also been combined with other devices, such as depth finders or fish finders which are popular with anglers.
Recently, PDAs and navigational devices, such as global positioning systems (“GPS”), have been combined. There are problems with such combined devices. For example, current combination devices which include a PDA and a GPS are confusing to use. One of the more confusing aspects is switching between the software applications needed for the GPS and the software applications needed for the PDA.
Still another problem is that the GPS or navigational devices generally use more power than other portable technologies that can be included in a portable, electronic device. The hardware needed to acquire signals from satellites is generally much more needy of power than the power needed to keep a cellular phone or a PDA operating. Thus, one of the problems associated with marrying a GPS with another device is that the length between charges for the other device may decline drastically. In other words, the more power hungry GPS portion of a combination device will discharge the batteries faster than a separate PDA, cellular phone or other device.
There are also problems with maintaining a relatively small size while still having the necessary capability to acquire the satellite signals needed to determine position on the GPS portion of the device. A GPS generally needs a fairly substantial antenna. Incorporating the antenna into the housing of a combined GPS and PDA may wreck havoc with the size of the device. As a result, all combination models are provided with an external GPS antenna. Using a patch antenna in such hand-held devices is advantageous since these are more low profile. However, there is a problem with fixing the antenna into a device since the antenna is generally most effective orientated a specific way with the satellites rather than oriented with respect to a housing or the case of the combined device. For example, a patch antenna is most effective if it is essentially parallel with the earth's surface. Many of the housings are made to be used in a hand-held mode. When holding the housing the housing is generally horizontally orientated. If a hand-held unit is to be mounted in an automobile, the mounting orientation is limited to more horizontal orientations so that the antenna is effective. A large problem with mounting a device with a fixed antenna so that the antenna is effective at receiving GPS signals generally makes the display almost impossible for the driver to see. As a result, an antenna fixed with respect to the housing may suffer in one use as compared to another. Providing a movable antenna also presents the problems of keeping the antenna at a position, especially in a vibrating environment such as driving down a dusty washboard gravel road.
There is always a problem with carrying separate devices. Each one needs a power cord, different batteries and other different accessories. So there is always a need for combined functions in one device. What is needed is a portable, hand-held electronic device that is user friendly and generally easy to use. For example, one that switches from one application to another with ease or even automatically. What is also needed is a device that includes a power savings mode so that the user is not continually recharging the device rather than using it. There is still a further need for a device that is small enough that it is handy to use and store in a pocket or purse. There is also a need for a device that minimizes the number of auxiliary accessories that must be carried. Specifically, there is also a need for a device that includes a GPS or other navigational device with other devices. Such a device needs an antenna which is part of the device but which is also positionable to more than one position. Also needed is a device which can operate in a hand-held orientation or in a car-mounted orientation. The device also needs to be neat and which is free of wires routed externally about the housing. The device also needs to be durable. There is also a need for a navigational route planning device which rapidly and efficiently generates a route plan, especially when a route was not completed.